Ideas To Help You Prepare For A Home Evacuation During A Wildfire

I am writing this blog entry with a heavy heart and a hopeful spirit. My heart breaks for our beautiful state as I watch the Holy fire head towards Lake Elsinore and the Redding fire that is barely contained. My prayers are with the families who are living in fear and uncertainty of losing their home, possessions, and everything that they have worked so hard to obtain. I pray for the brave men and women who are battling the fires and pray that their families would feel peace during these dangerous times. My hope is that this short entry can help you or someone you know. Today I am writing about evacuating your home during a wild fire. I know this is a tough topic and something we don't want to think about, but I do think its important. In no way am I an expert in this, please use this article as a tool to get you thinking about how YOU would prepare. This, of course, goes without saying: PEOPLE OVER POSSESSIONS ALWAYS! If you have no time to gather anything, grab your family (including pets) and leave! Nothing, NOTHING is more precious than life.

Below are some ideas to help you prepare for a home evacuation:

Kids:

Always, always have car seats properly installed in your car (and at least a tank ½ full). We keep a small plastic container in our truck and keep a few diapers, wipes, and hand sanitizing wipes. If you have older children you can also keep a few changes of clothes like extra socks, underwear and tennis shoes. Our plastic container also has two small fleece blankets and tooth brushes.

Pets:

Have leashes, carriers, and food ready in a ziplock bag and keep it in a tupperware container that can double as a bowl for water. We keep all of our dog supplies by our garage door and know exactly where to find them in case of emergency.

Paper:

I read this on Pinterest and have yet to do it myself but I think it’s a great idea: Store all important documents in sheet protectors in a three ring binder. Important docs include marriage certificates, birth certificates, car deeds, medical, life and home insurance, social security cards and passports. This doesn’t sound difficult but when you’re pressed for time, having this ready may be a game changer.

Food/First Aid:

Water (in gallons or bottles). Always keep a case of bottled water in your garage. Sams Club sells a box with 4 gallons of Spring water for $2.

Water purifying tablets-when researching these tablets I found that Aquatabs are one of the top rated brands-- they are effervescent tablets which kill micro- organisms in water to prevent cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other water borne diseases. I found 100 tabs for $5.07 on amazon! Link for Aquatabs: https://www.amazon.com/Aquatabs-AQT100-Water-Purification-Tablets/dp/B077737MBN

Anything non-perishable such as: Granola bars, peanut butter, saltine crackers, canned beans-- anything with a long shelf life that is easy to throw in a backpack.

We have read that some people take time to take videos of their home for insurance purposes. They take a video of each room in their home so that they don’t forget their possessions and can calculate the value. Some folks keep receipts of large purchase items such as appliances, TV’s, or any major priced items.

The last and probably one of the MOST IMPORTANT things to do is to make sure you know how your county sends out emergency communications to its residents. The link below explains the emergency communication system for LA, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. Please take a moment to read it and register your cell phone number:

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